Tag Archives: White House

Since the start of the semester typically signals a less prolific blog here at MediaMyopic, I want to alert you to a new collaboration with Georgetown University’s gnovis Journal. The peer-reviewed blog through the University’s Communication, Culture & Technology program will feature bi-weekly posts from MediaMyopic. The site is a commendable platform and offers a solid mix of diverse, academic viewpoints concerning today’s culture and media environment. While MediaMyopic will continue to serve its mission, I encourage everyone to support the gnovis blog and tune in to its salient discussions. Below is an exceprt from my first post:

Remember the days when we elected politicians who didn’t know how to e-mail? While some candidates think they can still get by with rhetoric from the Stone Age (McCain, anyone?), those days of the not-so-technologically-savvy president are gone, thanks to Barack Obama’s administration. The Blackberry-toting Obama marks the country’s first president to adopt e-mail, despite the technology going mainstream some two decades ago. As a result of Obama’s Web 2.0 White House, we have a president eager to communicate through mediums neglected by past presidents and — for the first time in my generation — Americans have lent their ears to our new leader... Read On

Out of all the news in the world to report right now (the Bill Richardson investigation, conflict in Palestine, the economy etc.), the two biggest stories to break over the weekend was the death of John Travolta’s son and George H.W.’s pitch for another Bush White House. We ask the public this: What’s more alarming? The fact an ineffective one-term president and father of a son with approval ratings spriraling to historic lows has the audacity to suggest the family deserves a third try in getting it right. Or the mindless media, which feels that it is within their perview to report such a mundane, trivial and outrageous suggestion. From the family who brought you the failed policies of trickle-down economics, Desert Storm, ‘compassionate’ conservatism, Homeland Security, No Child Left Behind, deregulation, the Iraq War, voter tampering in Florida and a bevy of mispronounced words, we unenthusiastically present to the American people our 45th President: Jeb Bush. George, READ OUR LIPS: “No New Bush.”

For those of you, like myself, who have been skeptical of the soft Iraq war coverage of the last few years have had their worst fears confirmed. This week TheNew York Times revealed an extensive covert plot from the Pentagon that involved deploying close to 100 pseudo political ‘pundits’ with scripted pro-war propaganda aimed at controlling public opinion. And we’re not just talking about Fox News. The Times reports that these ‘pundits,’ or as the White House calls them, “message force multipliers,” infiltrated Fox, CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC and MSNBC news programs. These pundits were recruited by the Bush Administration to disseminate misleading war information and false praises of the U.S. war effort. The result is Bush’s most duplicitous breach of public trust since taking office. Gone is the watchdog role of the media, the Fourth Estate designed to safeguard our democratic virtues and keep public officials honest. If this violation of federal law, which prohibits government sanctioned covert propaganda, doesn’t warrant impeachment, then clearly the system is broken. If you care about safeguarding the integrity of information flow, act now and tell Congress that this is unacceptable.